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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29236188">For Life</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/small_blue_owl/pseuds/small_blue_owl'>small_blue_owl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, Healthy Relationships, International Fanworks Day 2021, Kya Loves Tate, Kya has trust issues, Romance, Tate Loves Kya, Trust, but Tate is there for her, feathers as tokens of affection, trust me on this, ugh they are so cute, with trace amounts of angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:40:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>891</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29236188</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/small_blue_owl/pseuds/small_blue_owl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tate shows Kya just how much he loves her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kya Clark/Tate Walker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>For Life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skygirl_Jolene/gifts">Skygirl_Jolene</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello! I was asked if I'd ever write something about Tate and Kya and I got to thinking and came up with an idea involving albatrosses. So here it is. <br/>Small bit of background information, I am an avid birder and I love to get bird metaphors into my writing when possible, so I had a lot of fun with this. If you don't know about albatrosses, I would recommend looking up how they pair up for life. It's really cool and heartwarming, too. <br/>Many thanks to Skygirl_Jolene for the question that prompted this fic. I hope you enjoy. :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> ***********</p>
<p>1975</p>
<p>Kya wasn’t used to the feeling of being loved, this feeling of being wanted by someone who wasn’t leaving and didn’t lie. She didn’t want to fall into the trap of one-sided vulnerability again. Her trust had been broken so many times that it healed funny and was never quite the same.</p>
<p>It took Kya many years to fully believe that Tate would stay. Sometimes she woke up early and looked beside her, half expecting the other side of the bed to be empty. But it wasn’t. Or if it was, it was only because he was already awake, clattering in the kitchen, making her breakfast. Slowly, she stopped shying away from kindness. Slowly, she stopped being suspicious of affection.</p>
<p>In the months after the incident and the case, half-formed thoughts and memories inundated her mind at night, and she’d wake up in a sweat with tears on her face. She was always scared she had said something in her sleep, but Tate never asked. He just held her and whispered to her that she would be ok until she had fallen asleep again. He knew her well enough to know that asking too many questions would cause more harm than good.  </p>
<p>Tate and Kya often went out to feed the gulls together, watching them as they swirled over the sand. They sat together as the birds settled onto the beach, making little affectionate calls to each other, and the sun slipped into the endless water. They would sit in silence, the only sounds being the crash and hiss of the waves, the wind, and the gulls. There was a warmth that came from being so near to someone, Kya had noticed. It was not so much a literal warmth as a sense of security that she was painfully unfamiliar with.</p>
<p>Many hours were spent together marveling at nature in the lab. Both Kya and Tate shared an appreciation for the world that only comes when you’ve seen it and watched it and wondered about it. They shared excitement over tiny phenomena that the rest of the world would have overlooked. The sparkling chromoplasts of a flower petal, the fringed edge of a moth wing, the tiny protists meandering their way through a sample of water from the marsh.</p>
<p>One morning, years after it all, Kya was in the lab, looking at an alga under the microscope. It was mottled green and brown, the little chloroplasts bunched up into the most beautiful miniature mosaic. She almost didn’t notice the door open. Only when Tate tapped her on the shoulder did she look up.</p>
<p>“I have something for you,” he said. His face was shy but happy, his cheeks rosy, his hands behind his back. Kya turned in her chair with an expectant, happy look that only crossed her face when Tate was around.</p>
<p>“Close your eyes.”</p>
<p>She did. Something soft was placed in her hands. Her fingers closed around it. A feather. As she opened her eyes, she couldn’t help but stare at the gift Tate had given her. The feather was long and emarginated and dark in color with a white feather shaft. The first or second primary of an albatross.</p>
<p>“Tate…Where’d you…?” Kya seemed lost for words. Never had she held such an incredible feather. This had flown many miles, gliding over waters she had never seen. This had winged through the bright and crisp air of a distant sea. It was exhilarating to think about.</p>
<p>Tate blushed and he spoke quietly. “I got it when I was in college, from a professor. It’s from a Laysan Albatross. It made me think of you, so I thought you should have it.”</p>
<p>Kya felt her eyes sting. Laysan Albatrosses were mates for life, developing a lasting relationship with each other. And no matter how far out they flew, they always returned to the same place to nest.</p>
<p>Tate wanted to stay. He was telling her in a way that she would believe him.</p>
<p>Kya reverently placed the feather on the table and stood, her eyes on the ground. Then she put her arms around Tate, hiding her tears in his shoulder.</p>
<p>“Thank you.”</p>
<p>Tate’s arms tightened around her. “I’ll always be here. For life.” The words only seemed to make the tears fall faster. When Kya spoke, her words were muffled and quiet but safe and happy, as well. “I love you.”</p>
<p>Tate placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. “I love you, too,” he whispered, “Always.”</p>
<p>They stood together for a long time. Kya had lived so long without love that she hadn’t known how much she needed it. Loneliness has a way of stealing hopes and hardening a person until they are convinced that they don’t need love. Slowly, Tate’s love was easing a pain that had been in Kya’s heart for so long that she couldn’t remember a time without it.</p>
<p>The feather was placed on the wall above their bed. Every evening and every morning, Kya would look at it and a strange and new sort of happiness would rise in her chest. And every night, the feather shone in the light of the waxing moon as Tate and Kya lay in each other’s arms. They were inseparable, joined for life, and no matter where they went, they always came back to each other. </p>
<p> ***********</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it. Kudos and comments make my day :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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